


Fear Makes Strangers

by EmAndFandems



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bart POV, Dirk Gently Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Nightmares, Post-Project Blackwing (Dirk Gently), look i just think they should be friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:21:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25141561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmAndFandems/pseuds/EmAndFandems
Summary: Dirk can't be dying. She doesn't know how to drive yet.Or: What if they'd stuck together after getting out?
Relationships: Bart Curlish & Dirk Gently
Comments: 18
Kudos: 24





	Fear Makes Strangers

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this fic is the beginning of a quote from Shirley MacLaine. The full quote is, "Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends," and it fit this other world in which Dirk and Bart _are_ friends.

At first, Bart doesn't notice the noise.

It's quiet, for one thing, like it's trying to go unheard even by itself. And for another, she's heard so many like it that it's become a sort of backdrop for her life. Whimpers are nothing to take note of. People make all kinds of sounds when they're dying. It's better if you don't hear them.

But no one is dying now. Is someone dying? Bart's pretty sure she didn't do anything this time, but it might be possible for someone to die without her help. She opens her eyes to check where that scared noise is coming from and remembers where she is.

Lying on her side. Backseat of some car. It's small but she can make herself fit in all kinds of places that don't want a person there. The doors are locked and the windows are all closed, so the noise isn't from outside. For a second, Bart wonders if maybe she made that noise by accident, which is bad, because she shouldn't make sounds like she's dying. She's not dying. That would be wrong.

Then she catches sight of the front seat, which has a body in it.

Or no, not a body, or not a dead one, because it's moving. Not very much. But the bright-colored sleeve is twitching— and here comes the noise again. Bart rubs sleep from her eyes and sits up. Things are beginning to come back to her.

"Dirk?" she says, because it's important to call people by their names. He had another name when they met, but he didn't like it, because he said _they_ gave it to him. She didn't tell him her other name, either. "Dirk." He's not answering.

Bart leans forward over the piece of car that sticks up between the seats. She pokes at the arm closest to her. "Hey. Wake up." He's still not responding, but from this new position she can see a little more of his face, even though his head's turned toward the window. Is he crying? His eyes are closed, so it's hard to tell, but it looks like his face is wet. Tears are bad, Bart knows, because tears happen when people are dying if they know that it's happening. She isn't supposed to cry. Dirk isn't supposed to cry.

Dirk can't be dying. She doesn't know how to drive yet. If he dies then she'll be stuck in this car with him until she can figure out how to make the pedals work and then what? Dirk had a plan, he told her last night, they were going to do something or find someone maybe, but Bart doesn't know the plan so if he dies she has nothing.

Having nothing is bad. She's had nothing a few times and she didn't like it. Bart decides that Dirk can't die. He's like her, isn't he? He won't die.

He makes another dying sound, though. Bart smacks his arm. "Dirk!" she says, as loud as she can. It's nice to be loud. Mostly she has to be quiet. "Stop that!"

Dirk shudders with his whole body as his eyes come open. But it's like he's still not seeing her. He's looking at her but his face isn't doing the thing she liked yesterday, when he made the good faces people don't normally make at her. Priest used to make some of them but his eyes didn't feel right when he did that. Dirk knows how to do it right. But not now, Bart sees, because he's still shaking even though it's just her.

"Please," he gasps, and Bart frowns, because that's also a dying thing to say.

"Are you dying?" she demands.

"No," says Dirk, so Bart relaxes, but he doesn't stop saying it, "no, no, no no no _nononono_ ," and Bart doesn't understand why he's doing that.

"What's wrong with you?" she says, still loud so maybe he can wake up all the way, maybe he's still half-sleepy like when she forgot where she was before.

He doesn't like that. "Sorry," he whispers, which is a word that doesn't mean anything, and he's putting his arms around himself, which looks weird. "I'm sorry, I'm..."

"Stop being weird," Bart says, so he can go back to being Dirk again. Dirk doesn't make weird sounds and say weird things. Well he does, but not like this. Dirk's supposed to be— Bart searches her mind. Happy.

Dirk's not happy now. He's not making any face at all, not the good ones and not even the bad ones. He's still making the noise that woke her up.

"Stop it!" she tells him again, because he shouldn't make dying sounds if he isn't dying. That gives her a feeling like she used to have a long time ago and she doesn't like it. It makes her insides feel funny and her head hurt. She pauses. "Dirk?"

He's taking deep breaths now. He blinks a few times. His hands come away from his sides and grab at the round car thing in front of him. Dirk nods.

"Dirk, you're not dying, right?" Bart wasn't trying to make her voice small but it comes out small anyway. It can fit in the backseat. It doesn't even sound like her voice. Her voice isn't like that, wobbly and rough. She wants to scream so she can remind herself what she's supposed to sound like, but Dirk is talking now, so she won't. She can scream later. Screaming is another dying noise but it's also an angry noise and she can be angry. Angry helps.

"I'm not dying," Dirk says, so that's good. "I'm alright. I'm... I'm okay. We're okay."

Bart watches him. He tips his head back to lean on the seat and stare at the car ceiling. "We're okay?" she says, not sure why, wanting to hear it again.

"Yes," says Dirk firmly. "Both of us."

"What happened to you?" Bart wants to know so if it happens again she knows what it is. She doesn't like not knowing what things are. There's a lot of things she doesn't know but maybe Dirk can tell her about them. Dirk knows lot of stuff.

"That was a nightmare," Dirk says, and he tries to make a good face but it doesn't look right. "Just a— a bad dream. Everything's fine. I'm fine."

It's silly, but he's not looking at her when he says that last part, so for a second Bart thinks he's talking to himself. People don't talk to themselves. They talk to other people. When no one else was there Bart didn't talk to herself. Why should she? She knows what she's thinking. Saying it out loud is a funny thing to do.

"So I did a good thing when I woke you up?" Bart asks. It's good to do good things. That's what makes them good. If she did the right thing then Dirk will be happy. Usually if she did the right thing someone is dying. Bart can't be sure, but she thinks making Dirk happy is better.

"Absolutely," says Dirk, "only— Next time could you... not yell?"

Bart doesn't know that word, so Dirk explains that it means using a big voice. Bart doesn't understand why using a big voice is bad when the little voice didn't wake him up, but she promises, because Dirk is making a face with big eyes and it makes her want to make him happy. When she says, "Okay," it gives Dirk back his shiny eyes, so everything is back to the way it was yesterday.

"Now!" Dirk wiggles his fingers against the car circle he's still holding. "What are you thinking for breakfast?"

They get pancakes from a store, and they eat them right there. The world is crazy.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I cherish your comments <3


End file.
